The town so ridiculously average it was named UK's most ordinary place to live

Once labelled the "most normal" town in England by a group of number-crunching statisticians, Didcot in Oxfordshire, was evaluated and found to be nothing more than "average".

The 2017 study by ASI Data Science found Didcot came close to the statistical median when taking into account, age, marital status, employment, and income.

The label has caused a sense of disgruntlement with local residents. Six years after the survey was conducted, and one employee in the Oxfordshire town believes Didcot is actually "one of the most exciting places in the country".

Tim Pounds-Cornish, Production Supervisor at Rebellion TV and Film Studios described the historic town as having an "unparalleled sense of community."

Rebellion Film Studios, is a company that brings together cutting-edge film and TV production, and has decades of experience in games production.

Speaking about the firm being based in Didcot, Mr Pounds-Cornish said: "Our studios on Milton Road are each the size of a football pitch, so it's a Hollywood-esq production village set in the greenery just five minutes from the station. The site used to be a print press, so our space is steeped in history and local heritage which lends itself well to all the creative work we do."

He added: "The team members who travel to and from the station love to go into the town before and after work. The film industry can be quite London-centric, but we've got everything we need in Didcot - we'd would argue that it's one of the most exciting places in the country."

Several mainline services utilise Didcot Parkway Station, making the town great for connectivity, while the nearby Didcot Railway Centre museum has featured in major Hollywood films.

Earlier this year, The Flying Scotsman passed through Didcot Parkway Station, in June, as it travelled from Paddington Station in London to Cardiff in the year of its centenary.

Rosie Allen, who lives in the town with her two young daughters, runs a children’s role-play franchise called Little City South Oxfordshire. She believes the town has plenty to offer its residents and visitors alike.

She said: "I’m a mother of two young girls and Didcot has been the perfect town to bring them up. There’s so much going on, from clubs and activity groups, to local festivals and leisure centres – you can find things to keep the little ones entertained on a daily basis."

"It’s been redeveloped a lot, from both a commercial and residential perspective, since the study was conducted in 2017, and we’ve now got a good mix of high street shops at the Orchard Centre, and independent restaurants, featuring cuisines from across the world. On top of that, it’s got great rail links to London and Oxford for those special trips out. I love my town and the people who live here."

Meanwhile, former resident, Lewis, 23, currently works in Manchester but lived in Didcot for seven years.

He partially agrees with the "normal" branding of the town. The PR Account Executive said: "Didcot is normal, that much is true. There are some real factors that drag it down, sometimes it looks rundown, maybe it's a little dingy and cold, some of the people there are... less than welcoming. But when it boils down to it, there's more to Didcot than meets the eye."

Having attended school in Didcot, Lewis wonders whether the experience of normality was to do with age, and the experience teenagers have with what is available to them to keep themselves occupied in the town.

He added: "Normal, for me, means average. Run of the mill. I think Didcot has some redeeming factors. It's historically significant railway centre, the Orchard centre, some of the independent market shops, the parks, the community, the fair. Didcot may be normal but there are some really defining features that help it stand out. None more so than the paradox of being labelled the most normal town."

According to Census 2021, the population of Didcot, Oxfordshire is around 34,600 and the town has been inhabited for at least 9,000 years.

The town's junction on the routes to London, Bristol, and to Southampton made the town strategically important to military logistics, particularly during World War One.

The ASI Data science survey conducted in 2017, also included Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, Bath Road area in Worcester, Southwick in West Sussex and East Leake in Nottinghamshire in the top five "most normal places" in England.